Raqqa – She knows the city in the worst possible way. In her eyes, the ISIS terrorists were brutal animals who used her as a sex slave. She thought that she would die in Raqqa, Syria – the terrorists’ capital.

For months, BILD reporter Björn Stritzel pretended to be an Islamist willing to carry out an attack. What did ISIS teach him?

But Hiza (21) is alive. We meet her at a base, a few kilometres away from the frontline in Raqqa. This is where the women from the Kurdish YPG unit recover. Hiza has joined them after she managed to escape half a year ago. She says: “I have experienced unbelievable things. Now it is time to take revenge.”

When the ISIS terrorists conquered more and more areas in Iraq and Syria in the summer of 2014 and also invaded the Yazidi region at the Sinjar Mountains, they killed the men and took the women. Thousands were abducted and were brought to Mosul in Iraq or further on to Syria. The stories of these women are so appalling that it is almost unbearable to listen to them. Moreover, the Yazidi women are ashamed of what was done to them.

Hiza says: “Nobody can imagine the suffering that was brought upon us, upon our entire people.” This is why she now feels satisfied standing at the frontline with the Kurdish female YPG fighters. She has no fear. “Why should I be afraid, after what I’ve seen?”

It is 45 degrees in the shade as we walk through the ruins of the former ISIS stronghold of Mosul. The bodies of the fighters lie in the streets.

Mirkan (22) feels the same. She was not a sex slave for ISIS, but came from Germany to join the war in Raqqa. She has a German passport, and her family lives in Bremen. Mirkan: “When I heard and read what is happening here, I wanted to fight. I knew I would leave Germany. I am very proud of what we are achieving here.”

Auch Interessant

The war around Raqqa is for many a war of revenge. Many male fighters from the Kurdish units also have personal motives. Many lost their houses in Raqqa. Their parents and friends were killed. ISIS’s terror reign was particularly dramatic for homosexuals.

Anyone who was identified as gay by the terrorists had to expect being thrown from the roofs of the city.

According to “Newsweek”, there is now even a homosexual combat unit that fights in Raqqa. It mostly consists of international fighters and apparently calls itself “The Queer Insurrection and Liberation Army” – “TQILA” for short. A photo shows six soldiers posing with weapons and a banner which reads: “Faggots are killing fascists”.

The aim of the organisation is to “destroy binary gender codes, to promote the revolution for women’s rights, and the sexual revolution”.

However, not everybody is happy about the LGBT unit publicly announcing its activities. Its establishment caused a stir in Syria. Kurdish units publicly distance themselves and declare that “TQILA” does not fight together with them. A Kurdish officer says to BILD: “It is not good that this was made public. This is asking too much of the Arabian population. The focus should now solely be the fight against ISIS.”